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Thursday, July 17, 2014

Fangirl: A Book Review

Man, I have been meaning to read this book ever since my friend told me she wished this book was out when we were in college. I read this over a weekend, because I couldn't stop turning the pages to find out what was going to happen. But also because I had a long train ride to go visit my boyfriend in Harrisburg.

The first thing that really struck me about Fangirl, was that this was one of the first YA fiction books I have read that has dealt with the trials of the first year at college. I love YA and I find I can relate to teen books more than others, but since I'm only two years out of college, I could really relate to Cath. I wasn't quite like Cath in college, I think I was more like Reagan--with less boyfriends, but I knew people like Cath in college. I had friends like her in college, and that's why this book is awesome!

Considering that I got my start writing Sailor Moon fanfiction, I could understand Cath's obsession with writing Simon Snow fanfiction. The one thing that bothered me about the story was that she tried to hand in her fanfiction for her fiction-writing class! I'm all for people writing fanfiction so they can write the story how they want it. I think it can be a good exercise for new writers to start thinking about their own craft, but I would never ever hand in fanfiction for a class! Maybe that's because I always had these stories instead my head, and because I minored in creative writing, but that part of the book really irked me.

Fangirl was this cute story that I think everyone needs once in awhile, but it also had hidden pain in it that I think most people can relate to. Cath's relationship with her sister Wren is tested throughout the novel. It was really hard to read about how their Mom left when they were kids and basically left their Dad as a hollow shell of a man. The parts about their dad losing his mind to his job was hard to read about, but I thought it made their lives realistic. Everyone has problems, and I think that made Cath more relatable to readers.

Although, I felt like I had a few questions left unanswered by the end of this book, Rainbow Rowell really wowed me with this book. I think there a lot of people, especially those in the "fandom" that could really relate to Cath's story. I like that she chose to write a book on this subject, I thought it was something new and interesting. I'm giving this a 7.5 out of 10.